August 25, 2025 • 36 mins
Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks kick off the show by breaking down Terry McLaurin’s three-year, $96M extension with the Washington Commanders, highlighting how he’s utilized in the offense and what separates him from other elite receivers in the league. Next, the guys dive into Howie Roseman’s latest move, finding value at the quarterback position with a deal that sends Sam Howell to the Vikings.
After the break, they dive into their biggest preseason takeaways, from Shedeur Sanders’ fit in Cleveland to Micah Parsons’ disruptive play, and why the 2025 rookie class is poised for breakout seasons.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up, everybody? Welcome to move the sticks, DJ, Buck
with you, Buck. It's the it's the in between week here.
We've made it through the preseason. No NFL games this weekend,
but then everything cranks the following weekend. Got a little
taste of college football this last weekend, and high school
(00:23):
football kicked off, by the way, So let's start there
before we get to the news of the day with a
big signing in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
How do we do?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
How do our high school team do?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We did? Okay, DJ, we won. We beat a team
that knocked us out of the playoffs. We were able
to come back and play well. We beat them fifty
to sixteen. Nice had a really good day runn into football,
so it was it was great. It was a solid
performance like the first time out. But you know, it's
kind of funny sometimes as a coach, you kind of
take your cues from what people are doing at the
(00:54):
upper levels, and so I look at the Rams and
Jags and all these teams that really playing their guys
in the preseason, and so we didn't play in a scrimmage,
but we had intersquad scrimmages because we could control it
and DJ for the second year in a row. Man,
we came out the gates like playing really really well. Now,
I don't know if it's anything to it, but man,
(01:16):
we were we played, and so maybe there is something too. Hey,
let's get everybody to the starting line, let's get enough contact,
but let's make sure we're ready to go when it's time.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I think there's something too. Also, the especially for
high school kids, the thirst and excitement to play somebody
new for the first time. Like the scrimmage kind of
gave you that. But like, man, that doesn't count. I'd
almost rather have it that first time seeing another jersey.
You'd have my boys already to roll here once we
get to a regular season game. So that's a nice
fifty spot. Nothing to sneeze out here to get out
(01:45):
the gates.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, no, we'll see. I mean, we'll see what it
matters like it who knows, like how good we are,
how good they are, but we'll I mean, it's nice
to win when you had a bunch of losses last year,
so to come back and get a win was great,
how about you, guys?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So we won, We had we played at Rancho Mirage.
So we played at Palm Desert, the poor JV kids.
It was one hundred and seventeen at kickoff for the
JV kids. Varsity kicked off at one eight on the temperature.
That's they pushed it back and think closer to eight.
But we won handily. Unfortunately, my son, third play of
(02:18):
the game, senior year, third play of the game, he
gets pushed in the back because you know, after the
play was over and his leg locks and he hyper
extended his hit pretty bad. So he oh yeah, so
we got Yeah, it was a bummer. So he got
it out. He played the rest of the game on
one leg. He almost had two sacks played. He played well,
but he just he's on one leg and then afterwards
(02:39):
he can't move. So we gotta we have We're already
doing doctor appointments, Buck, We're one week end of the season.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
We got doctors. We already at that point.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Unbelievable. Tough luck, tough luck, but good team win. The team.
The team played well, so that was fun to see.
So there's your there's a little high school recap. As
we uh as launched this thing. So the news of
the morning, Buck we've got Terry McLaurin. That thing finally
gets done three years, ninety six million. So before I
kind of get your thoughts on the contract itself, I
(03:11):
did some homework on this and I was curious about it.
So I wanted to see a how did they use Terry? Obviously,
even though Terry's been a really good player for a
long time, So how did they use him? How does
he fit in going forward? And how did they complete
this offense? This is a fun offense to watch last
year with Jade and Daniels. But I want to kind
of just get into Washington a little bit here. So
(03:33):
I went back and I pulled up and you know,
I want to get a refresher on Terry last year.
Let's go pull up his explosives. So I pulled up
all of his explosive catches. So that's over fifteen yards.
And this is what I'll just kind of give you
the data and then we'll go from there. Just watching
all these plays. I had it for seven go balls,
I had four on scrambles. I had three deep curls,
(03:54):
three overs, two slants, two comebacks, one dig, one corner.
So my takeaway was, gosh, man, I didn't realize Terry
was such the vertical guy. For some reason, I had
it in my head like more run after catch, you know,
you know, things like that. He's a good route runner,
but man, it's a lot of verticals. It's a lot
of you know, staying on one path, go balls deep
(04:17):
overs only the two slants, so in terms of like
air yards like, they're not like they were pushing the
ball vertically a lot. And he was a big factor
in that. So then I'm looking at that and I go, okay, well,
then let's look at who the run after catch guys
were in this offense last year, because not really Terry.
He was third on the team. So last year was
Eckler was first at four hundred and twenty something, and
(04:39):
then Zakias was next. Now he's he's on Chicago. He's
had a really nice preseason with the Bears. So he's gone.
So I'm like, guys, it doesn't seem like a lot.
Where were they, Okay last year?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Looked it up.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
They were sixteenth and run after catch this year just
in the preseason. Preseason is a liar. I understand that
you're not playing all your guys, but the twenty six
twenty sixth the yards after catching the preseason, so I
guess I'm kind of getting that. I love the deal
for McLaurin. I love getting him in there, a great guy, leader,
vertical player. I feel like for this offense to get
where they need to go, they're going to need more
(05:10):
run after catch, and I guess that, that, to me
informs the Debo decision for him in there to satisfy
that role.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, did you I think you're right on, right on point.
Part of the reason why they added Deebo Samuel is
to diversify their offense. When you talked about it, it's
funny because when you look at Terry mclauren's numbers, you
see him as more of a It's funny you talk
about the vertical part of it, but look is his
yards per catch or whatever. He's more of a possession
number one receiver. You need the exposive play. So Debo
(05:40):
comes in and what he gives you is to catch
and run factor, the yack, the physicality, the toughness, to
the ability to maybe add in some high completion percentage
passes but maybe have a big yield on that because
he's able to break a tackle of two and get
to it. They really compliment each other very very well.
(06:00):
And it'd be interesting because Deebo's contract is up, they
have to pay him as I'm one if they keep them.
But how do they go about the ying and yang
of using these guys as a duo.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, I'm just fascinating kind of looking at it, because
then you look at the tight end position like zach
Ertz is. You know, he's steady, eddie veteran. He's going
to be your third down. He made some clutch catches
for them red zone third down, but he's not you know,
at this point his career, he's not giving you much
in terms of run after catch. I look, I love
what I've seen and I'm going to hit on this
(06:32):
with Rosenthal on the forties of free agents thing we're doing.
But the Jacory Krosky Merritt is going to be a
big factor for them. The rookie running back that they
got in the seventh round who ended up being a
real steal. But you know he's string yep east West
there you go, you saw him there, So you know,
I think he's going to factor in. Try and get
him the ball to let him do some things. Out
(06:52):
there in space. But when you're trying to find like
the you know, the complete offense here id of digging
into just this particular team, I was like, man, it's
kind of impressive what they were able to do last
year because I don't think the offensive line was outstanding.
They've made some improvements there with learning tonsol and made
some upgrades here along that front. But man, I don't
(07:16):
even know if this thing's fully assembled yet, is what
I'm getting at.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
No, it's not fully baked out. And you know, was
really really interesting when it comes to Washington when they
made the trade to move Brian Robinson out, you know,
there was a lot of conversation like, man, this was
just started running back. He's the physical presence. Why would
you get him out? And they just felt like they
were leaving a meat on the bone. And some would
say like they just left a lot of stuff on
(07:42):
the table and they just needed more. And as you
talked about Merritt coming over, we talked about what Austin
Eckler can do out the backfield. Some of those things.
To me, yeah, I think this offense more than ever
is going to be the Jade and Daniels Show in
terms of everything is designed to mac surmize who he
is as a playmaker, particularly different types of passes, being
(08:05):
able to use maybe swings and screens as a little
bit of your running game. Some of the RPO stuff
with Deebo Samuel, the bubble screens and all that. I
can see this offense being a little more side to side, horizontal,
but still having a vertical element as they begin to
use different parts of their playbook to maximize the talent
(08:26):
of a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I'm going back through my notes because I wanted to
pull up just my draft notes on McLaurin and just
to give you a refresher. So Buck when he was
coming out, remember he ran fast. He was six oh
one to weight, ran four to three five at Indie.
On my notes on plays outside, he's got tons of juice,
does let the ball get into his chest on occasion.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
He's tough.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
He'll work in the middle of the field, which a
lot of chunk plays. So the story that I had
on him and talking to the guys at Ohio State
was he went to a camp and as a younger player,
went to this camp at Ohio State hoping to get
a scholarship offer, and ran really fast, all those things,
but didn't catch the ball particularly well. So they said, well,
you got to work on catching the ball. Like if
(09:09):
you can, we can't offer you right now. We just
work on catching the ball. So he caught two hundred
balls a day after that, and a lot of it
I believe was from his mom, like just throwing the
balls in the house, whatever he could do. Just he
was going to catch two hundred balls a day, goes
back to the camp, catches the ball really really well,
gets the offer, and off he goes. So that was
one of those things when you think about as a scout,
(09:30):
you're getting information on guys, and we've been hammering home
care factor. Right, That's like the Moves twenty twenty five theme.
You know, care factor with players? How much do they care?
How important is it to him to have that as
a type of a story. Is a great example of
someone who has a very high care factor.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I mean that is the biggest thing. And when you
began to talk to evaluators and the changing times of
the landscape, it is digging into the care factor. How
many people absolutely love it. Where take the money aside,
take all the things that come with the lifestyle. How
many people are willing to do the dirty work to
make themselves the best that they can be as a player.
(10:09):
When you hear those stories, it kind of validates and
confirms a lot of the stuff that you've heard about
them the entire time, and it makes you feel better
about stroking a check to a player who has kind
of put himself up by his bootstraps. So I dig
it when it comes to this new model, because I
think when we were leading up to the draft, we
(10:30):
talked about the other column and reports where people are
talking about the football character and how the football character
more than ever is being valued and not about like,
oh are they good people on and off, but also
about how much they love it, how much? What's the
work ethic? Like do they really care about it? If
you took it away from them? What they really miss it?
(10:51):
That kind of stuff when it comes to bath.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, that's I just think it's what you got to
focus right now. It's going to be the differentiator as
we're as we're going for. It's going to be a
major major impact there. All right, we've got some other
news here. I guess we can run this into or
hot or not here. It's time for hot or Not,
brought to you by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. We've got
some trades and some movement here. We've talked about this
(11:15):
a little bit on the previous episode, but Sam Howell
got traded. He goes to the Philadelphia Eagles. We were
speaking of Washington. They decided to make a move. They
trade Brian Robinson, and I think that's a lot because
of the emergence of the rookie Brian Robinson, the forty
nine ers who've been dinged up in the backfield, so
it gives them a little bit of insurance there on
(11:36):
that front, seeing a lot of these back end trades
that are taking place, seeing some offensive linemen they're moving
around as well. But I wanted to focus on the
Eagles as we're talking about what's hot. Anybody, anybody at all,
spend more time and resources on exploring quarterback avenues and
(11:56):
seeing how they can extract value at that specific position.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I mean, everyone laughed when they said this, and they
said when Doug Peterson was the head coach, and it
was Doug Peterson and Howie Roseman, and it was when
they took Jalen Hurts and they talked about we would
like to be a quarterback factory and coming off the
heels of something that Andy Reid did when he was there.
It is the most valuable position. It's the position that
(12:23):
pays you back in return, if you the highest return
on investment you got it in. It's the one thing
where if you do discover the secret sauce in terms
of being able to develop young players and draft the
free agents, cast offs misfits and have them show a
little bit of promise, it pays off. And going all
the way back to when this team, this franchise, so
(12:47):
many guys have come through there. People that talk about
the Michael Vick reclamation project where they were able to
build him back up and move on from Donovan McNab.
We can talk about a j. Feeley who was a
part of when we were part of it, how they
auction him off, Kevin Cobb. I mean they have mastered
the sauce and now with Howie who saw all of
(13:09):
that as a younger scout or someone that was in
the building during that time, they've continued to invest in
it and DJ why not. Like I told you, this
was a tactic when I was in Green Bay as
a player. This is what Ron Wolf would do all
the time. Kick the tires on quarterbacks because you never
know what could happen down the line. The Eagles have
(13:29):
just taken it and run with it, and they've had
been so successful with this model, why would you stop?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I just wrote down two things your backup quarterback in
an ideal world should be able to do. Two things.
Should be able to save a season? Actually I write
down three things. First, first of all, let's say serve
the quarterback, right, So you got to get a good dude,
because he gets a selfish player in that role you
still have if you're a backup quarterback, part of your
job is to serve the starter. Whatever homework you can provide,
(13:58):
whatever information you can provide. You want to be an
set in the room. So you're going to serve the starter.
And by all accounts, the guys they've brought through there
that have been those type of players. But the really
the big two things. Could he save a season? In
other words, Jalen Hurts is out for two to three weeks?
Can he keep us afloat? Can he keep us alive?
And not? And we don't just flush the season because
our quarterback misses a couple of weeks. So can he saves,
(14:19):
and then number two, can he create future value because
there's an opportunity to do both those things. If your
starter goes down for a month or less. You know,
two three, four games, you just saved the season. Oh,
by the way, you just showed the rest of that
you can play, And now all of a sudden, we've
got an asset that we can market off into the future.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah. I mean, it's worked so well for them DJ,
It's worked so well, and it takes what I would
say an organizational commitment to be able to pull this off.
Everyone has to buy into a We always want to
take a chance on quarterbacks, whether we're drafting them when
people say we don't need to draft him, whether we're
trading for him, when once again people say, hey, you
already have a starter and maybe a backup. Why would
(14:57):
you do this? Whatever it is, but it's kicking the
tires on those guys because we've said it, one man's
trash is another man's treasure. One organization, one head coach
understands how to unlock the talents of quarterbacks that others don't.
Why not it cost you nothing, but the rewards can
(15:17):
be so handsome in return that why wouldn't you invest
in the quarterback position now?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And on on the on the topic Buck, the team
that traded Sam Howell to the Philadelphi Eagles, the reason
they traded him, it's because Carson Wentz comes in. So
I thought that was fascinating. Again, goes back to a
theme that you've referenced forever is when you have when
you have a high pick that I don't know how
many what are these cats get nine lives? Is that
(15:42):
what they say? I think I think a top five
pick quarterback might get more.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Absolutely, and I think Carson Wentz is probably eighty. By
the fact that he spent what year did he spend
in l A he' spent like a season or so,
som McVay is able to kind of give some insight
into how he learns, how he interacts with the team.
And let's be real, however, sideways, a guy for Carson Wentz,
(16:08):
at one point, this.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Guy seventeen would have been the MVP.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, at one point he was on the way to
win the MVP Award. He has played in a bunch
of different wards and it hasn't been great of late.
But man, if you're talking about being able to get
out of a situation, get out of a game, get
out of a season because something happens with the start.
Because remember JJ McCarthy, you still have no idea what
this is going to look like when we start playing
(16:32):
for real. You're trying to make sure that you beef
up that QB two spot just in case it doesn't
go the way that you wanted to go, be an
injury or performance. Carson Wentz gives him that, And I'm
not gonna sit here and blow small like Carson Wentz
has played at a Pro Bowl level of late. But
if you're Kevin O'Connell, and we've seen Kevin O'Connell work
with all different types, at least from a tool standpoint,
(16:54):
he gives you a chance to run your offense.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Theain't no question. And look he's good dude, and he
was there, Gab just put it in. Put it in
the chat for us here twenty twenty three. So that's
when when Carson got his experience there with the rams.
So interesting to see this kind of quarterback care sol
there's some of the quarterback topics I want to hit
you here in a minute, But that was this week's
Hot or Not segment. Brought to you by with Sabbi
(17:19):
Hot cloud storage, Store more and do more with your data.
Try them for free at withsaby dot com. Quick pause, Buck,
I've got another quarterback topic I want to hit you
on right after this. All right, Buck, Look it's you
knew it was going to be the topic of conversation.
We saw the first preseason game for Shudeur Sanders. It
went really really well there. Then he gets nicked up.
(17:42):
Then we saw kind of the downside of him or
the concern with him, and the last start, which was
holding the freaking football forever man. And that's go back
to and read the reports, you know, not just mine
or yours. I think everybody kind of said and saw
the same thing, which was drifting holding the ball, Like,
what's the negative there? That's something he's got to get.
(18:03):
He's got to play faster, he's got to clean that up.
And that kind of reared its head a little bit
the other day it didn't.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And you know, like it. It's funny, right because there's
a lot of conversation. The conspiracy theorists are out saying,
oh Kayvin Stefanski set them up for failure, didn't let
them round with the ones or two. Dylan Gaber was
given more opportunities in those things. And all that may
be true in terms of like who you played with
the those things, But coming on the heels of a
conversation that I had with a general manager where you say,
sometimes you put guys in average situations to see how
(18:32):
they respond, because part of what you're trying to assess,
particularly a quarterback, is how do they handle tough times
and tough situations. What is the resiliency factor like for them?
And Burshader he didn't handle it very very well. And
I know that the team in front of him wasn't great.
But guess what, man's the preseason. That's kind of a
part of the deal, and what you want to see
(18:53):
is can you make that group better? We've talked about
it as in pick up basketball terms. Sometimes, man, you
just put it down on the team, say give them
four players and see what it looks like with this team.
Can he make this team play better than it should
play given the talent that they have and with your door, Yeah,
the warts showed up in terms of holding the ball,
(19:14):
trying to make a play, trying to do too much
and even though he's coming off an injury or still
playing with an injury. What you wanted to see was
him build on the performance that he displayed early, being
able to get the ball out on time, being able
to manage the game, being able to keep the team
out of bad situations regards of what everything else is around.
Can you keep the team calm amid chaos? And in
(19:37):
this situation he didn't. And you know, for his detractors
it was confirmation, like h I told you, And for
his supporters it was like, ah, man, he has to
get better in that and the truth and the true
evaluation for the Browns lies someone in the middle. It's
a developmental process. It's part of the thing he has
(19:58):
to learn and hopefully he grows from the experience. This is
what preseason looks like for young quarterback.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
When I started out first year scouting. Phil Savage is
running the personnel department with the Baltimore Ravens, and he said,
he told all of us young scouts might have been
a scout school. We're all in there, and he said, look,
when you are evaluating a player, you see the positives
and the negatives. You put it in the report, you
put it in the summary. So when that player gets
to the NFL, you're going to see both. You're going
(20:22):
to see the good stuff that you saw in college
that's going to show up, and you're going to see
the bad stuff that you saw in college that's going
to show up. What determines the player's success is what
that ratio looks like. So the goal is to now
maximize those good things minimize those bad things. I don't
think the good things completely go away. I don't think
the bad things completely go away. So I feel like
this was a full picture of Shudeur Sanders, of the
(20:45):
guy we saw in college. We saw the good stuff
early on in the touch and the accuracy, the ball placement,
you know that was there. And then we saw the drifting,
the holding the ball, taking bad sacks, retreating like that
stuff showed up. So the challenge for him going for
is going to be, Okay, let's let's minimize that and
let's try and maximize our good things. I just think
it was there shouldn't have been anything all that shocking
(21:07):
or surprising in the good or the bad, because I
think that's what we saw. The only thing that I
take that I take umbrage with is the word sabotage.
If you've if you've worked in a personnel department, or
you've been on a team in the National Football League level,
there's one S word that shows up more than any
other book, and it's survival. It's not sabotage, because guess
(21:30):
what happens when you try and sabotage someone?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's like you.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Being in the room and pulling the pin on a grenade, Like, okay,
maybe he got got but guess who else got got me?
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard, Like, is
no such thing as sabotage. In the NFL. It is
about winning and surviving and trying to get our family
in the same school, in the same house the following year.
That sabotage doesn't exist. I just found that kind of silly.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, it's not that. In DJ, we've all been in this.
Like you do it as a coach. Sometimes you intentionally
put some obstacles in front of a player to see
how they handle those things. Like that's just a part
of it. Like it happens on the high school level.
I have people and parents complain about a little Johnny
only got two plays. Well, those two plays need to
be great, because if they're great, then maybe gets four. Yeah, Like,
(22:20):
this is what it is like. Your job as a
player is to maximize the opportunities that you have, and
you can't get caught up in why am I playing
with the ones, the twos or the threes? Who do
I have with me? It doesn't matter when they hand
you the ball and they ask you to run onto
the field. Your job is to take the team that
you're with and to make it better, whatever that looks like.
(22:41):
So that's just a part of it. And DJ sometimes,
and we've said this, sometimes I actually worry more about
how you respond to adversity than how you handle success.
I want to see you at those moments. One of
the reasons why we go to watch quarterbacks live is
to see how do they handle when it doesn't go
their way? Do they talk to their teammates, what's their
(23:03):
body language like? Do they interact with the coaches? The
evaluation extends far beyond what happens between the lines, and
it actually includes what happens when you walk outside of
the lines and you're talking to everybody. All of this
back then, because remember, quarterbacks the most important position on
the field, but he's also the extension of the head
(23:23):
coach when he's in charge, all of that is being evaluated.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
All right, this is this is fascinating to me, This
situation I'm getting ready to get into here. Michael Parson's
taking a nap on the sideline, buck coach, Bucky Brooks,
How you dealing with that?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
We have to have a serious chat in conversation, and
I would say it's probably very similar to what Vernon
Davis had to experience for Mike Singletary centem off. I
think if you're Brian Schottenheimer and if you know that,
you got to address it right there, because what happens
is everyone is looking at how you handle the star,
and if you handle a star with kid gloves, now
you have no credibility when it comes to everybody else.
(24:01):
Like you can't be the hard line disciplinarian if you
don't address this thing with Michael Parsons. Hopefully in the
team meeting he not only addressed it to Mike, wuld
be addressed in front of the entire team and put
down some parameters about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.
But I will say this with Michael, that is unacceptable
as a professional be laying on the table like that
(24:22):
regardless of the contract dispute and all that. It's disrespectful
to your teammates when you do that. So if you're
showing up and you're there, then you got to be
all the way there. If you're not, then don't don't
be around. But if you're there, you need to be
a good teammate. You need to be there for your
your guys. You can't be like you can't lay and
eat Dorito's and all that other stuff that people were
talking about him doing on the TAM like it's just disrespectful. Yeah,
(24:45):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
It's just it's a tough spot to be in, man,
because it's in the old days, the player just wouldn't
be there, you know, like he you know, if you're
having this type of a dispute, he wouldn't be in.
But now so as a CBA, like it's this whole
nd thing versus as the hold out thing.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And I'm gonna say and I'm gonna say this, DJ,
I blame the team. There's no such thing as a
holding in my mind, if you show up you're working,
or don't show up and hold out, but you're not
gonna get the best of both worlds. Where oh, I'm
not going to find you because I'm here, but I'm
not going to do the work. You're in or you're out.
(25:23):
There's no way in between. And when teams take that
hardline stance, then players and their representatives have to make
tough choices on I go handle the tough contract negotiation.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, it's just a bad it's a bad look all
the way around. And for a team that's look, they've
got a talented team there, I mean, this is a
this is a playoff caliber team. They can get everybody
kind of rolling the boat in the same direction. But
I don't remember anything like this. It's been a minute
since we've seen something this.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I mean, it's not it's not good. It's not what
you want to see, and it needs to be addressed.
And as much as I just blame Michael Parsons for
his behavior, look man, Jerry Jones is just as responsible
because this is a negotiation that regardless of whether you
try to do it directly with the player, if a
player has a representative, you got to talk to the agent.
(26:10):
And the disrespect that Jerry Jones has seemingly had for
Michael Parson's representation makes it very hard to get a
deal done. Like everyone needs to be a grown up
in the room. If you want to get a deal
done with your star player, you need to sit down
with his representative and y'all need to hammer that out.
That's it. But it can't be this what's playing out.
And I know the businessman and Jerry knows that any
(26:32):
news is good news for the Cowboys, But man, you're
threatening the chemistry of the team at this point. Like
you're threatening the chemistry of the team with the way
that you're treating Michael Parsons at this point. Like they
need to figure this out because it's a huge distraction
and I don't care how they try and dismiss it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
No, it's a tough spot to be in there. I
was looking at this the other day and I want
to get your thoughts on it. I was going back
through the draft and was pulling up to the top ten.
I was trying to think of you know, man, there
are so many guys, the skill guys playing key roles
on the top ten of this of this draft. If
you look at it offensive skill guys cam Ward Travis Hunter,
(27:14):
who will be doing a little bit of both ways there.
Then we get to Ashen Genty, we get to Tederoa McMillan,
and then Colston Loveland. Five of the top ten picks
are offensive skill players quarterbacks, running back, receiver, tight ends.
And I was trying to think that you could make
a case that the offense could run heavily through these
five guys as rookies like potential. And let's say let's
(27:38):
put cam Ward to the side as the quarterback. I
don't think he's gonna make the Pro Bowl as a rookie.
He'd be astonishing if he did, especially in the AFC.
But if we take cam Ward, put him aside, and
take those other four guys chances of being like Pro
Bowl players as rookies. Travis Hunter, Ashon Genty, McMillan, Lovelin.
I know that there's, you know, especially in Loveland's case,
(27:58):
a lot of mouths to feed there.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
And Icicgo.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I think he's going to be a key force in
that offense though, man like I think those four guys
have a chance to have outstanding rookie years.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Uh, he absolutely does. And I'm gonna say this DJ,
I don't know if you saw the club that were
viral about Coaston Loveland performing at the Rookie show where
he did it or not. Uh, he's one of your guys.
He's an R and B lover. He did he did
some singing and as they would say in the community,
we can invite him to the cookouts. He has. He
has some rhythm in those things, and I think that
(28:28):
boswell his connectivity. But he's a really good player. And
you saw in that that game where they really showcased
him and Cole Kimmitt and and those guys co Comett
that this tied end thing they got is gonna be special.
But of all the guys that you name in terms
of being a pro bowler, to me, I'll put my
money on asking Genty. I think gend is gonna have
an opportunity to touch the ball a ton and anyone
(28:51):
who knows Pete Carr knows they want to run the
football and they want to have a decided the look
run past ratio that tips in favor of the run
game because that's want to allow them to control the game.
It is also going to set Gino Smith up for success.
So to me, Genty is going to be in that mix.
Those other guys are gonna have big splash plays and
maybe they can earn the right, but I just see
(29:12):
a heavy workload for Askton Genty as the RB one
for the Raidings.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, no, I agree. I think it runs to him
and Bowers. Man, it's gonna be a two headed monster
there with what they're doing. But my thing is when
you look at it and look, Cuba Hubbard is a
good player. Xavier Leaguette you know, is hopefully going to
continue to take that next step.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
But I mean, is it.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I don't think it's far fetched to say that that
offense could run through McMillan, Like I think he cold
you can make a week halfway through the year, he'd
be their best offensive player. I don't think that's crazy
at all.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Okay, once again, I'm gonna say this, and man, in
the hysteria of the pre Jack process, tedman Millan called
team at cut a lot of straits, right. There are
a lot of people that kind of questioned, and then
when you see him, you like, oh, yeah, this the
guy that I've seen since he was at Survey, Yeah whatever,
just just dominating and like he has a connection when
(30:05):
it comes to ball skills in those things and when
we're scouts and even though it's preseason, I think it's
imperative that we dig a little deeper, that you make
sure that you understand who the kid is when we
make these evaluations, like he looks like DJ, he could
be really special and the chemistry that he already has
with Bryce Young can be underestimated.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
So talked about those guys as being key pieces. I
think gent would say offense runs through him. Yeah, McMillan
by the halfway point of the year, I think he
could be their kind of key guy on their offense.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Number one.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah, then you get love one who's in a just
a really crowded group is going to be a but
he's gonna be a he's going to be a supporting actor.
He's going to be a really good player in that.
So then that gets us to the fourth guy again,
cam Wort's off the side, and this is the one
you have the inside scoop on Buck Now that we've
made it through the whole training camp, I know he
hasn't been totally healthy, but how do you see the
role offensively for Travis Huntering alongside BTJ, who might be
(31:03):
in the mix be the best receiver in the.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
NFL, starting wide receiver, part time cornerback, starting wide receiver
who will have major opportunities as a slot receiver. Now,
if he wants his role to expand, he's going to
have to learn how to play on the outside because
right now they have him slided as F only, so
he's playing in the slot. But if they want to
(31:27):
go two tight end sets, he has to learn Z
to be able to stay on the field. And so
Travis Hunter has to really understand the playbook get into
it so he can stay on the field and be
one hundred percent guy on offense. But DJ, his ball
skills are terrific. I would say that he is a
better ball catcher than BTJ in terms of like hands, consistency,
(31:48):
how natural and easy it is. BTJ is a better
route runner and more refined. But these two guys could
really help Trevor Lawrence finally become the guy that many
of us saw when he was Clemson and everyone was
amazed and we're talking about him being a generational talent.
But Travis Hunter has to get in the dent on defense. Look, man,
I think defense is easy for him. He has to
(32:11):
make sure that he's a solid, incredible tackler. He has
to be on that edge. But in terms of coverage,
it's easy. I mean he see ball, get ball, his hands,
his range, playing getting soon where he can kind of
see it and anticipate it. He has all of those things,
but his major contributions have to be on offense first. Defense.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Second, they've given him any opportunities I know have been nicked.
Will he get any opportunities in the return game.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I don't think that's gonna be his jam. I think
they have other guys. I just I think they want
him to concentrate on a man being great at wide receiver,
working into the rotation at defensive back. I think that
would overburden him maybe having to be a three phase player.
If they can get him to be one and a half,
like a one and a half way player, I think
(32:55):
they would be success this year, and then maybe it
expands as he gets into your two and your three. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Well, I'm excited to see him. It's an exciting top ten.
And then with cam Ward, look, I thought he's showed
out well in the preseason. You can see the ability
is all there. My goal for him this year is
to just give us some moments, man, give us some
excitement on a team that desperately needs it. Calvin Ridley's
going to catch a billion balls from him. He loves him.
They have a good chemistry already that's developed. So I
(33:23):
don't know how good that team's gonna be, but he
is going to be fun to watch. He's going to
make that team less boring, is what I've been telling everybody.
So excited about this top ten and I'll tell you
that on top of that, we're just talking offensive guys
here with this group got a couple offensive tackles in
there as well, and Membu and Will Campbell. But I
would say this is my and I don't think this
is any type of a bold prediction. But I could
(33:45):
see four games into the season Buck, the conversation could
be had of like I love cam Ward and cam
Ward's exciting, but man, should they have taken Abdul Carter
with the first overall pick?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Like that?
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I could see that conversation. He is going to be outstanding.
He made that transition. Look that game is slow. It
looks very slow for him.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Look, man, I'm gonna say this. And there was a
lot of like jokes and barbs thrown the Giants way,
and part of that was due to the hard knocks
behind the scene of the conversation. They had a little
egg on the face with the Saquan thing. But I
will say this right now, it looks like they knocked
it out the part with their first picks Jackson Abdu Carter.
If Abdu Carter plays like we're speculating that he's gonna
(34:27):
play with this front four with Dexter Lawrence and Brian
Burns and came On Tibodeau and those guys, if he
becomes the player that we think and their defense plays
like they traditionally played when they have elite playmakers up front,
they're gonna have a chance to kind of sneak into
the conversation. Being very competitive for the postseason. And then
Jackson Dark settling in even quicker than many of us thought.
(34:49):
And I think the clock is ticking on how long?
How long before we see the Jackson Dart Show. Because
Brian dave Ball has already shown his ability to adapt
some of that old Miss stuff. The Giants offense has
some of that old Miss featured in baked into it.
As you can see, Jackson d are having success right
(35:10):
right away. And I just remember first year he won
eleven games with Danny Danny Dimes. Yeah, was coming in
and they did some things. They were creative. This is
a better athlete than Danny Dimes. I think he can
do some different things to really help his offense get
jump started.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Yeah, no question. Excited for the Giants. Man, they're gonna
be fun to watch, all right. That was That was
a fun one today, Buck. We'll be back as we
as we start launching into all of our preview stuff
as the season is right around the corner. Also, man,
it was so great to see college football back. I
might jump into that a little bit as well when
we get back with you on Thursday. So that's gonna
do it for us. We'll see you next time right
(35:49):
here on. Move the sticks.
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up, everybody? Welcome to move the sticks, DJ, Buck
with you, Buck. It's the it's the in between week here.
We've made it through the preseason. No NFL games this weekend,
but then everything cranks the following weekend. Got a little
taste of college football this last weekend, and high school
(00:23):
football kicked off, by the way, So let's start there
before we get to the news of the day with a
big signing in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
How do we do?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
How do our high school team do?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We did? Okay, DJ, we won. We beat a team
that knocked us out of the playoffs. We were able
to come back and play well. We beat them fifty
to sixteen. Nice had a really good day runn into football,
so it was it was great. It was a solid
performance like the first time out. But you know, it's
kind of funny sometimes as a coach, you kind of
take your cues from what people are doing at the
(00:54):
upper levels, and so I look at the Rams and
Jags and all these teams that really playing their guys
in the preseason, and so we didn't play in a scrimmage,
but we had intersquad scrimmages because we could control it
and DJ for the second year in a row. Man,
we came out the gates like playing really really well. Now,
I don't know if it's anything to it, but man,
(01:16):
we were we played, and so maybe there is something too. Hey,
let's get everybody to the starting line, let's get enough contact,
but let's make sure we're ready to go when it's time.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I think there's something too. Also, the especially for
high school kids, the thirst and excitement to play somebody
new for the first time. Like the scrimmage kind of
gave you that. But like, man, that doesn't count. I'd
almost rather have it that first time seeing another jersey.
You'd have my boys already to roll here once we
get to a regular season game. So that's a nice
fifty spot. Nothing to sneeze out here to get out
(01:45):
the gates.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, no, we'll see. I mean, we'll see what it
matters like it who knows, like how good we are,
how good they are, but we'll I mean, it's nice
to win when you had a bunch of losses last year,
so to come back and get a win was great,
how about you, guys?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So we won, We had we played at Rancho Mirage.
So we played at Palm Desert, the poor JV kids.
It was one hundred and seventeen at kickoff for the
JV kids. Varsity kicked off at one eight on the temperature.
That's they pushed it back and think closer to eight.
But we won handily. Unfortunately, my son, third play of
(02:18):
the game, senior year, third play of the game, he
gets pushed in the back because you know, after the
play was over and his leg locks and he hyper
extended his hit pretty bad. So he oh yeah, so
we got Yeah, it was a bummer. So he got
it out. He played the rest of the game on
one leg. He almost had two sacks played. He played well,
but he just he's on one leg and then afterwards
(02:39):
he can't move. So we gotta we have We're already
doing doctor appointments, Buck, We're one week end of the season.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
We got doctors. We already at that point.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Unbelievable. Tough luck, tough luck, but good team win. The team.
The team played well, so that was fun to see.
So there's your there's a little high school recap. As
we uh as launched this thing. So the news of
the morning, Buck we've got Terry McLaurin. That thing finally
gets done three years, ninety six million. So before I
kind of get your thoughts on the contract itself, I
(03:11):
did some homework on this and I was curious about it.
So I wanted to see a how did they use Terry? Obviously,
even though Terry's been a really good player for a
long time, So how did they use him? How does
he fit in going forward? And how did they complete
this offense? This is a fun offense to watch last
year with Jade and Daniels. But I want to kind
of just get into Washington a little bit here. So
(03:33):
I went back and I pulled up and you know,
I want to get a refresher on Terry last year.
Let's go pull up his explosives. So I pulled up
all of his explosive catches. So that's over fifteen yards.
And this is what I'll just kind of give you
the data and then we'll go from there. Just watching
all these plays. I had it for seven go balls,
I had four on scrambles. I had three deep curls,
(03:54):
three overs, two slants, two comebacks, one dig, one corner.
So my takeaway was, gosh, man, I didn't realize Terry
was such the vertical guy. For some reason, I had
it in my head like more run after catch, you know,
you know, things like that. He's a good route runner,
but man, it's a lot of verticals. It's a lot
of you know, staying on one path, go balls deep
(04:17):
overs only the two slants, so in terms of like
air yards like, they're not like they were pushing the
ball vertically a lot. And he was a big factor
in that. So then I'm looking at that and I go, okay, well,
then let's look at who the run after catch guys
were in this offense last year, because not really Terry.
He was third on the team. So last year was
Eckler was first at four hundred and twenty something, and
(04:39):
then Zakias was next. Now he's he's on Chicago. He's
had a really nice preseason with the Bears. So he's gone.
So I'm like, guys, it doesn't seem like a lot.
Where were they, Okay last year?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Looked it up.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
They were sixteenth and run after catch this year just
in the preseason. Preseason is a liar. I understand that
you're not playing all your guys, but the twenty six
twenty sixth the yards after catching the preseason, so I
guess I'm kind of getting that. I love the deal
for McLaurin. I love getting him in there, a great guy, leader,
vertical player. I feel like for this offense to get
where they need to go, they're going to need more
(05:10):
run after catch, and I guess that, that, to me
informs the Debo decision for him in there to satisfy
that role.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, did you I think you're right on, right on point.
Part of the reason why they added Deebo Samuel is
to diversify their offense. When you talked about it, it's
funny because when you look at Terry mclauren's numbers, you
see him as more of a It's funny you talk
about the vertical part of it, but look is his
yards per catch or whatever. He's more of a possession
number one receiver. You need the exposive play. So Debo
(05:40):
comes in and what he gives you is to catch
and run factor, the yack, the physicality, the toughness, to
the ability to maybe add in some high completion percentage
passes but maybe have a big yield on that because
he's able to break a tackle of two and get
to it. They really compliment each other very very well.
(06:00):
And it'd be interesting because Deebo's contract is up, they
have to pay him as I'm one if they keep them.
But how do they go about the ying and yang
of using these guys as a duo.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, I'm just fascinating kind of looking at it, because
then you look at the tight end position like zach
Ertz is. You know, he's steady, eddie veteran. He's going
to be your third down. He made some clutch catches
for them red zone third down, but he's not you know,
at this point his career, he's not giving you much
in terms of run after catch. I look, I love
what I've seen and I'm going to hit on this
(06:32):
with Rosenthal on the forties of free agents thing we're doing.
But the Jacory Krosky Merritt is going to be a
big factor for them. The rookie running back that they
got in the seventh round who ended up being a
real steal. But you know he's string yep east West
there you go, you saw him there, So you know,
I think he's going to factor in. Try and get
him the ball to let him do some things. Out
(06:52):
there in space. But when you're trying to find like
the you know, the complete offense here id of digging
into just this particular team, I was like, man, it's
kind of impressive what they were able to do last
year because I don't think the offensive line was outstanding.
They've made some improvements there with learning tonsol and made
some upgrades here along that front. But man, I don't
(07:16):
even know if this thing's fully assembled yet, is what
I'm getting at.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
No, it's not fully baked out. And you know, was
really really interesting when it comes to Washington when they
made the trade to move Brian Robinson out, you know,
there was a lot of conversation like, man, this was
just started running back. He's the physical presence. Why would
you get him out? And they just felt like they
were leaving a meat on the bone. And some would
say like they just left a lot of stuff on
(07:42):
the table and they just needed more. And as you
talked about Merritt coming over, we talked about what Austin
Eckler can do out the backfield. Some of those things.
To me, yeah, I think this offense more than ever
is going to be the Jade and Daniels Show in
terms of everything is designed to mac surmize who he
is as a playmaker, particularly different types of passes, being
(08:05):
able to use maybe swings and screens as a little
bit of your running game. Some of the RPO stuff
with Deebo Samuel, the bubble screens and all that. I
can see this offense being a little more side to side, horizontal,
but still having a vertical element as they begin to
use different parts of their playbook to maximize the talent
(08:26):
of a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I'm going back through my notes because I wanted to
pull up just my draft notes on McLaurin and just
to give you a refresher. So Buck when he was
coming out, remember he ran fast. He was six oh
one to weight, ran four to three five at Indie.
On my notes on plays outside, he's got tons of juice,
does let the ball get into his chest on occasion.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
He's tough.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
He'll work in the middle of the field, which a
lot of chunk plays. So the story that I had
on him and talking to the guys at Ohio State
was he went to a camp and as a younger player,
went to this camp at Ohio State hoping to get
a scholarship offer, and ran really fast, all those things,
but didn't catch the ball particularly well. So they said, well,
you got to work on catching the ball. Like if
(09:09):
you can, we can't offer you right now. We just
work on catching the ball. So he caught two hundred
balls a day after that, and a lot of it
I believe was from his mom, like just throwing the
balls in the house, whatever he could do. Just he
was going to catch two hundred balls a day, goes
back to the camp, catches the ball really really well,
gets the offer, and off he goes. So that was
one of those things when you think about as a scout,
(09:30):
you're getting information on guys, and we've been hammering home
care factor. Right, That's like the Moves twenty twenty five theme.
You know, care factor with players? How much do they care?
How important is it to him to have that as
a type of a story. Is a great example of
someone who has a very high care factor.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I mean that is the biggest thing. And when you
began to talk to evaluators and the changing times of
the landscape, it is digging into the care factor. How
many people absolutely love it. Where take the money aside,
take all the things that come with the lifestyle. How
many people are willing to do the dirty work to
make themselves the best that they can be as a player.
(10:09):
When you hear those stories, it kind of validates and
confirms a lot of the stuff that you've heard about
them the entire time, and it makes you feel better
about stroking a check to a player who has kind
of put himself up by his bootstraps. So I dig
it when it comes to this new model, because I
think when we were leading up to the draft, we
(10:30):
talked about the other column and reports where people are
talking about the football character and how the football character
more than ever is being valued and not about like,
oh are they good people on and off, but also
about how much they love it, how much? What's the
work ethic? Like do they really care about it? If
you took it away from them? What they really miss it?
(10:51):
That kind of stuff when it comes to bath.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, that's I just think it's what you got to
focus right now. It's going to be the differentiator as
we're as we're going for. It's going to be a
major major impact there. All right, we've got some other
news here. I guess we can run this into or
hot or not here. It's time for hot or Not,
brought to you by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. We've got
some trades and some movement here. We've talked about this
(11:15):
a little bit on the previous episode, but Sam Howell
got traded. He goes to the Philadelphia Eagles. We were
speaking of Washington. They decided to make a move. They
trade Brian Robinson, and I think that's a lot because
of the emergence of the rookie Brian Robinson, the forty
nine ers who've been dinged up in the backfield, so
it gives them a little bit of insurance there on
(11:36):
that front, seeing a lot of these back end trades
that are taking place, seeing some offensive linemen they're moving
around as well. But I wanted to focus on the
Eagles as we're talking about what's hot. Anybody, anybody at all,
spend more time and resources on exploring quarterback avenues and
(11:56):
seeing how they can extract value at that specific position.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I mean, everyone laughed when they said this, and they
said when Doug Peterson was the head coach, and it
was Doug Peterson and Howie Roseman, and it was when
they took Jalen Hurts and they talked about we would
like to be a quarterback factory and coming off the
heels of something that Andy Reid did when he was there.
It is the most valuable position. It's the position that
(12:23):
pays you back in return, if you the highest return
on investment you got it in. It's the one thing
where if you do discover the secret sauce in terms
of being able to develop young players and draft the
free agents, cast offs misfits and have them show a
little bit of promise, it pays off. And going all
the way back to when this team, this franchise, so
(12:47):
many guys have come through there. People that talk about
the Michael Vick reclamation project where they were able to
build him back up and move on from Donovan McNab.
We can talk about a j. Feeley who was a
part of when we were part of it, how they
auction him off, Kevin Cobb. I mean they have mastered
the sauce and now with Howie who saw all of
(13:09):
that as a younger scout or someone that was in
the building during that time, they've continued to invest in
it and DJ why not. Like I told you, this
was a tactic when I was in Green Bay as
a player. This is what Ron Wolf would do all
the time. Kick the tires on quarterbacks because you never
know what could happen down the line. The Eagles have
(13:29):
just taken it and run with it, and they've had
been so successful with this model, why would you stop?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I just wrote down two things your backup quarterback in
an ideal world should be able to do. Two things.
Should be able to save a season? Actually I write
down three things. First, first of all, let's say serve
the quarterback, right, So you got to get a good dude,
because he gets a selfish player in that role you
still have if you're a backup quarterback, part of your
job is to serve the starter. Whatever homework you can provide,
(13:58):
whatever information you can provide. You want to be an
set in the room. So you're going to serve the starter.
And by all accounts, the guys they've brought through there
that have been those type of players. But the really
the big two things. Could he save a season? In
other words, Jalen Hurts is out for two to three weeks?
Can he keep us afloat? Can he keep us alive?
And not? And we don't just flush the season because
our quarterback misses a couple of weeks. So can he saves,
(14:19):
and then number two, can he create future value because
there's an opportunity to do both those things. If your
starter goes down for a month or less. You know,
two three, four games, you just saved the season. Oh,
by the way, you just showed the rest of that
you can play, And now all of a sudden, we've
got an asset that we can market off into the future.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah. I mean, it's worked so well for them DJ,
It's worked so well, and it takes what I would
say an organizational commitment to be able to pull this off.
Everyone has to buy into a We always want to
take a chance on quarterbacks, whether we're drafting them when
people say we don't need to draft him, whether we're
trading for him, when once again people say, hey, you
already have a starter and maybe a backup. Why would
(14:57):
you do this? Whatever it is, but it's kicking the
tires on those guys because we've said it, one man's
trash is another man's treasure. One organization, one head coach
understands how to unlock the talents of quarterbacks that others don't.
Why not it cost you nothing, but the rewards can
(15:17):
be so handsome in return that why wouldn't you invest
in the quarterback position now?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And on on the on the topic Buck, the team
that traded Sam Howell to the Philadelphi Eagles, the reason
they traded him, it's because Carson Wentz comes in. So
I thought that was fascinating. Again, goes back to a
theme that you've referenced forever is when you have when
you have a high pick that I don't know how
many what are these cats get nine lives? Is that
(15:42):
what they say? I think I think a top five
pick quarterback might get more.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Absolutely, and I think Carson Wentz is probably eighty. By
the fact that he spent what year did he spend
in l A he' spent like a season or so,
som McVay is able to kind of give some insight
into how he learns, how he interacts with the team.
And let's be real, however, sideways, a guy for Carson Wentz,
(16:08):
at one point, this.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Guy seventeen would have been the MVP.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, at one point he was on the way to
win the MVP Award. He has played in a bunch
of different wards and it hasn't been great of late.
But man, if you're talking about being able to get
out of a situation, get out of a game, get
out of a season because something happens with the start.
Because remember JJ McCarthy, you still have no idea what
this is going to look like when we start playing
(16:32):
for real. You're trying to make sure that you beef
up that QB two spot just in case it doesn't
go the way that you wanted to go, be an
injury or performance. Carson Wentz gives him that, And I'm
not gonna sit here and blow small like Carson Wentz
has played at a Pro Bowl level of late. But
if you're Kevin O'Connell, and we've seen Kevin O'Connell work
with all different types, at least from a tool standpoint,
(16:54):
he gives you a chance to run your offense.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Theain't no question. And look he's good dude, and he
was there, Gab just put it in. Put it in
the chat for us here twenty twenty three. So that's
when when Carson got his experience there with the rams.
So interesting to see this kind of quarterback care sol
there's some of the quarterback topics I want to hit
you here in a minute, But that was this week's
Hot or Not segment. Brought to you by with Sabbi
(17:19):
Hot cloud storage, Store more and do more with your data.
Try them for free at withsaby dot com. Quick pause, Buck,
I've got another quarterback topic I want to hit you
on right after this. All right, Buck, Look it's you
knew it was going to be the topic of conversation.
We saw the first preseason game for Shudeur Sanders. It
went really really well there. Then he gets nicked up.
(17:42):
Then we saw kind of the downside of him or
the concern with him, and the last start, which was
holding the freaking football forever man. And that's go back
to and read the reports, you know, not just mine
or yours. I think everybody kind of said and saw
the same thing, which was drifting holding the ball, Like,
what's the negative there? That's something he's got to get.
(18:03):
He's got to play faster, he's got to clean that up.
And that kind of reared its head a little bit
the other day it didn't.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And you know, like it. It's funny, right because there's
a lot of conversation. The conspiracy theorists are out saying,
oh Kayvin Stefanski set them up for failure, didn't let
them round with the ones or two. Dylan Gaber was
given more opportunities in those things. And all that may
be true in terms of like who you played with
the those things, But coming on the heels of a
conversation that I had with a general manager where you say,
sometimes you put guys in average situations to see how
(18:32):
they respond, because part of what you're trying to assess,
particularly a quarterback, is how do they handle tough times
and tough situations. What is the resiliency factor like for them?
And Burshader he didn't handle it very very well. And
I know that the team in front of him wasn't great.
But guess what, man's the preseason. That's kind of a
part of the deal, and what you want to see
(18:53):
is can you make that group better? We've talked about
it as in pick up basketball terms. Sometimes, man, you
just put it down on the team, say give them
four players and see what it looks like with this team.
Can he make this team play better than it should
play given the talent that they have and with your door, Yeah,
the warts showed up in terms of holding the ball,
(19:14):
trying to make a play, trying to do too much
and even though he's coming off an injury or still
playing with an injury. What you wanted to see was
him build on the performance that he displayed early, being
able to get the ball out on time, being able
to manage the game, being able to keep the team
out of bad situations regards of what everything else is around.
Can you keep the team calm amid chaos? And in
(19:37):
this situation he didn't. And you know, for his detractors
it was confirmation, like h I told you, And for
his supporters it was like, ah, man, he has to
get better in that and the truth and the true
evaluation for the Browns lies someone in the middle. It's
a developmental process. It's part of the thing he has
(19:58):
to learn and hopefully he grows from the experience. This is
what preseason looks like for young quarterback.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
When I started out first year scouting. Phil Savage is
running the personnel department with the Baltimore Ravens, and he said,
he told all of us young scouts might have been
a scout school. We're all in there, and he said, look,
when you are evaluating a player, you see the positives
and the negatives. You put it in the report, you
put it in the summary. So when that player gets
to the NFL, you're going to see both. You're going
(20:22):
to see the good stuff that you saw in college
that's going to show up, and you're going to see
the bad stuff that you saw in college that's going
to show up. What determines the player's success is what
that ratio looks like. So the goal is to now
maximize those good things minimize those bad things. I don't
think the good things completely go away. I don't think
the bad things completely go away. So I feel like
this was a full picture of Shudeur Sanders, of the
(20:45):
guy we saw in college. We saw the good stuff
early on in the touch and the accuracy, the ball placement,
you know that was there. And then we saw the drifting,
the holding the ball, taking bad sacks, retreating like that
stuff showed up. So the challenge for him going for
is going to be, Okay, let's let's minimize that and
let's try and maximize our good things. I just think
it was there shouldn't have been anything all that shocking
(21:07):
or surprising in the good or the bad, because I
think that's what we saw. The only thing that I
take that I take umbrage with is the word sabotage.
If you've if you've worked in a personnel department, or
you've been on a team in the National Football League level,
there's one S word that shows up more than any
other book, and it's survival. It's not sabotage, because guess
(21:30):
what happens when you try and sabotage someone?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's like you.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Being in the room and pulling the pin on a grenade, Like, okay,
maybe he got got but guess who else got got me?
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard, Like, is
no such thing as sabotage. In the NFL. It is
about winning and surviving and trying to get our family
in the same school, in the same house the following year.
That sabotage doesn't exist. I just found that kind of silly.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, it's not that. In DJ, we've all been in this.
Like you do it as a coach. Sometimes you intentionally
put some obstacles in front of a player to see
how they handle those things. Like that's just a part
of it. Like it happens on the high school level.
I have people and parents complain about a little Johnny
only got two plays. Well, those two plays need to
be great, because if they're great, then maybe gets four. Yeah, Like,
(22:20):
this is what it is like. Your job as a
player is to maximize the opportunities that you have, and
you can't get caught up in why am I playing
with the ones, the twos or the threes? Who do
I have with me? It doesn't matter when they hand
you the ball and they ask you to run onto
the field. Your job is to take the team that
you're with and to make it better, whatever that looks like.
(22:41):
So that's just a part of it. And DJ sometimes,
and we've said this, sometimes I actually worry more about
how you respond to adversity than how you handle success.
I want to see you at those moments. One of
the reasons why we go to watch quarterbacks live is
to see how do they handle when it doesn't go
their way? Do they talk to their teammates, what's their
(23:03):
body language like? Do they interact with the coaches? The
evaluation extends far beyond what happens between the lines, and
it actually includes what happens when you walk outside of
the lines and you're talking to everybody. All of this
back then, because remember, quarterbacks the most important position on
the field, but he's also the extension of the head
(23:23):
coach when he's in charge, all of that is being evaluated.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
All right, this is this is fascinating to me, This
situation I'm getting ready to get into here. Michael Parson's
taking a nap on the sideline, buck coach, Bucky Brooks,
How you dealing with that?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
We have to have a serious chat in conversation, and
I would say it's probably very similar to what Vernon
Davis had to experience for Mike Singletary centem off. I
think if you're Brian Schottenheimer and if you know that,
you got to address it right there, because what happens
is everyone is looking at how you handle the star,
and if you handle a star with kid gloves, now
you have no credibility when it comes to everybody else.
(24:01):
Like you can't be the hard line disciplinarian if you
don't address this thing with Michael Parsons. Hopefully in the
team meeting he not only addressed it to Mike, wuld
be addressed in front of the entire team and put
down some parameters about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.
But I will say this with Michael, that is unacceptable
as a professional be laying on the table like that
(24:22):
regardless of the contract dispute and all that. It's disrespectful
to your teammates when you do that. So if you're
showing up and you're there, then you got to be
all the way there. If you're not, then don't don't
be around. But if you're there, you need to be
a good teammate. You need to be there for your
your guys. You can't be like you can't lay and
eat Dorito's and all that other stuff that people were
talking about him doing on the TAM like it's just disrespectful. Yeah,
(24:45):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
It's just it's a tough spot to be in, man,
because it's in the old days, the player just wouldn't
be there, you know, like he you know, if you're
having this type of a dispute, he wouldn't be in.
But now so as a CBA, like it's this whole
nd thing versus as the hold out thing.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And I'm gonna say and I'm gonna say this, DJ,
I blame the team. There's no such thing as a
holding in my mind, if you show up you're working,
or don't show up and hold out, but you're not
gonna get the best of both worlds. Where oh, I'm
not going to find you because I'm here, but I'm
not going to do the work. You're in or you're out.
(25:23):
There's no way in between. And when teams take that
hardline stance, then players and their representatives have to make
tough choices on I go handle the tough contract negotiation.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, it's just a bad it's a bad look all
the way around. And for a team that's look, they've
got a talented team there, I mean, this is a
this is a playoff caliber team. They can get everybody
kind of rolling the boat in the same direction. But
I don't remember anything like this. It's been a minute
since we've seen something this.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I mean, it's not it's not good. It's not what
you want to see, and it needs to be addressed.
And as much as I just blame Michael Parsons for
his behavior, look man, Jerry Jones is just as responsible
because this is a negotiation that regardless of whether you
try to do it directly with the player, if a
player has a representative, you got to talk to the agent.
(26:10):
And the disrespect that Jerry Jones has seemingly had for
Michael Parson's representation makes it very hard to get a
deal done. Like everyone needs to be a grown up
in the room. If you want to get a deal
done with your star player, you need to sit down
with his representative and y'all need to hammer that out.
That's it. But it can't be this what's playing out.
And I know the businessman and Jerry knows that any
(26:32):
news is good news for the Cowboys, But man, you're
threatening the chemistry of the team at this point. Like
you're threatening the chemistry of the team with the way
that you're treating Michael Parsons at this point. Like they
need to figure this out because it's a huge distraction
and I don't care how they try and dismiss it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
No, it's a tough spot to be in there. I
was looking at this the other day and I want
to get your thoughts on it. I was going back
through the draft and was pulling up to the top ten.
I was trying to think of you know, man, there
are so many guys, the skill guys playing key roles
on the top ten of this of this draft. If
you look at it offensive skill guys cam Ward Travis Hunter,
(27:14):
who will be doing a little bit of both ways there.
Then we get to Ashen Genty, we get to Tederoa McMillan,
and then Colston Loveland. Five of the top ten picks
are offensive skill players quarterbacks, running back, receiver, tight ends.
And I was trying to think that you could make
a case that the offense could run heavily through these
five guys as rookies like potential. And let's say let's
(27:38):
put cam Ward to the side as the quarterback. I
don't think he's gonna make the Pro Bowl as a rookie.
He'd be astonishing if he did, especially in the AFC.
But if we take cam Ward, put him aside, and
take those other four guys chances of being like Pro
Bowl players as rookies. Travis Hunter, Ashon Genty, McMillan, Lovelin.
I know that there's, you know, especially in Loveland's case,
(27:58):
a lot of mouths to feed there.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
And Icicgo.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I think he's going to be a key force in
that offense though, man like I think those four guys
have a chance to have outstanding rookie years.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Uh, he absolutely does. And I'm gonna say this DJ,
I don't know if you saw the club that were
viral about Coaston Loveland performing at the Rookie show where
he did it or not. Uh, he's one of your guys.
He's an R and B lover. He did he did
some singing and as they would say in the community,
we can invite him to the cookouts. He has. He
has some rhythm in those things, and I think that
(28:28):
boswell his connectivity. But he's a really good player. And
you saw in that that game where they really showcased
him and Cole Kimmitt and and those guys co Comett
that this tied end thing they got is gonna be special.
But of all the guys that you name in terms
of being a pro bowler, to me, I'll put my
money on asking Genty. I think gend is gonna have
an opportunity to touch the ball a ton and anyone
(28:51):
who knows Pete Carr knows they want to run the
football and they want to have a decided the look
run past ratio that tips in favor of the run
game because that's want to allow them to control the game.
It is also going to set Gino Smith up for success.
So to me, Genty is going to be in that mix.
Those other guys are gonna have big splash plays and
maybe they can earn the right, but I just see
(29:12):
a heavy workload for Askton Genty as the RB one
for the Raidings.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, no, I agree. I think it runs to him
and Bowers. Man, it's gonna be a two headed monster
there with what they're doing. But my thing is when
you look at it and look, Cuba Hubbard is a
good player. Xavier Leaguette you know, is hopefully going to
continue to take that next step.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
But I mean, is it.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I don't think it's far fetched to say that that
offense could run through McMillan, Like I think he cold
you can make a week halfway through the year, he'd
be their best offensive player. I don't think that's crazy
at all.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Okay, once again, I'm gonna say this, and man, in
the hysteria of the pre Jack process, tedman Millan called
team at cut a lot of straits, right. There are
a lot of people that kind of questioned, and then
when you see him, you like, oh, yeah, this the
guy that I've seen since he was at Survey, Yeah whatever,
just just dominating and like he has a connection when
(30:05):
it comes to ball skills in those things and when
we're scouts and even though it's preseason, I think it's
imperative that we dig a little deeper, that you make
sure that you understand who the kid is when we
make these evaluations, like he looks like DJ, he could
be really special and the chemistry that he already has
with Bryce Young can be underestimated.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
So talked about those guys as being key pieces. I
think gent would say offense runs through him. Yeah, McMillan
by the halfway point of the year, I think he
could be their kind of key guy on their offense.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Number one.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah, then you get love one who's in a just
a really crowded group is going to be a but
he's gonna be a he's going to be a supporting actor.
He's going to be a really good player in that.
So then that gets us to the fourth guy again,
cam Wort's off the side, and this is the one
you have the inside scoop on Buck Now that we've
made it through the whole training camp, I know he
hasn't been totally healthy, but how do you see the
role offensively for Travis Huntering alongside BTJ, who might be
(31:03):
in the mix be the best receiver in the.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
NFL, starting wide receiver, part time cornerback, starting wide receiver
who will have major opportunities as a slot receiver. Now,
if he wants his role to expand, he's going to
have to learn how to play on the outside because
right now they have him slided as F only, so
he's playing in the slot. But if they want to
(31:27):
go two tight end sets, he has to learn Z
to be able to stay on the field. And so
Travis Hunter has to really understand the playbook get into
it so he can stay on the field and be
one hundred percent guy on offense. But DJ, his ball
skills are terrific. I would say that he is a
better ball catcher than BTJ in terms of like hands, consistency,
(31:48):
how natural and easy it is. BTJ is a better
route runner and more refined. But these two guys could
really help Trevor Lawrence finally become the guy that many
of us saw when he was Clemson and everyone was
amazed and we're talking about him being a generational talent.
But Travis Hunter has to get in the dent on defense. Look, man,
I think defense is easy for him. He has to
(32:11):
make sure that he's a solid, incredible tackler. He has
to be on that edge. But in terms of coverage,
it's easy. I mean he see ball, get ball, his hands,
his range, playing getting soon where he can kind of
see it and anticipate it. He has all of those things,
but his major contributions have to be on offense first. Defense.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Second, they've given him any opportunities I know have been nicked.
Will he get any opportunities in the return game.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I don't think that's gonna be his jam. I think
they have other guys. I just I think they want
him to concentrate on a man being great at wide receiver,
working into the rotation at defensive back. I think that
would overburden him maybe having to be a three phase player.
If they can get him to be one and a half,
like a one and a half way player, I think
(32:55):
they would be success this year, and then maybe it
expands as he gets into your two and your three. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Well, I'm excited to see him. It's an exciting top ten.
And then with cam Ward, look, I thought he's showed
out well in the preseason. You can see the ability
is all there. My goal for him this year is
to just give us some moments, man, give us some
excitement on a team that desperately needs it. Calvin Ridley's
going to catch a billion balls from him. He loves him.
They have a good chemistry already that's developed. So I
(33:23):
don't know how good that team's gonna be, but he
is going to be fun to watch. He's going to
make that team less boring, is what I've been telling everybody.
So excited about this top ten and I'll tell you
that on top of that, we're just talking offensive guys
here with this group got a couple offensive tackles in
there as well, and Membu and Will Campbell. But I
would say this is my and I don't think this
is any type of a bold prediction. But I could
(33:45):
see four games into the season Buck, the conversation could
be had of like I love cam Ward and cam
Ward's exciting, but man, should they have taken Abdul Carter
with the first overall pick?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Like that?
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I could see that conversation. He is going to be outstanding.
He made that transition. Look that game is slow. It
looks very slow for him.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Look, man, I'm gonna say this. And there was a
lot of like jokes and barbs thrown the Giants way,
and part of that was due to the hard knocks
behind the scene of the conversation. They had a little
egg on the face with the Saquan thing. But I
will say this right now, it looks like they knocked
it out the part with their first picks Jackson Abdu Carter.
If Abdu Carter plays like we're speculating that he's gonna
(34:27):
play with this front four with Dexter Lawrence and Brian
Burns and came On Tibodeau and those guys, if he
becomes the player that we think and their defense plays
like they traditionally played when they have elite playmakers up front,
they're gonna have a chance to kind of sneak into
the conversation. Being very competitive for the postseason. And then
Jackson Dark settling in even quicker than many of us thought.
(34:49):
And I think the clock is ticking on how long?
How long before we see the Jackson Dart Show. Because
Brian dave Ball has already shown his ability to adapt
some of that old Miss stuff. The Giants offense has
some of that old Miss featured in baked into it.
As you can see, Jackson d are having success right
(35:10):
right away. And I just remember first year he won
eleven games with Danny Danny Dimes. Yeah, was coming in
and they did some things. They were creative. This is
a better athlete than Danny Dimes. I think he can
do some different things to really help his offense get
jump started.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Yeah, no question. Excited for the Giants. Man, they're gonna
be fun to watch, all right. That was That was
a fun one today, Buck. We'll be back as we
as we start launching into all of our preview stuff
as the season is right around the corner. Also, man,
it was so great to see college football back. I
might jump into that a little bit as well when
we get back with you on Thursday. So that's gonna
do it for us. We'll see you next time right
(35:49):
here on. Move the sticks.
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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